Torn Strings

Dark clouds murmured across the grey sky as they blocked out the afternoon sun's light. The wind picked up fallen leaves and dust amongst many other things from the trimmed grass and whipped them about.

A scrawny boy with straight black hair sat lazily on a rusted swing set, his hands holding the chains. His hollow eyes stared listlessly at the clouds above, no thoughts crossing his mind.

The wind picks up again, whipping his two sizes too big red tattered t-shirt around him. A short distance away from him, a small group of kids, no more than 7, walk towards him while giggling and shushing each other. The one leading them, a pale blonde kid with a neon purple jersey on him and a soccer ball tucked underneath his shoulder, walked up to him.

The black haired boy continues staring at the clouds.

"Hey, skin and bones. Wanna play some football?"

Saying that, the blonde boy fake threw the ball at his face. He didn't even flinch. Slowly, he brought his eyes down from the sky and to the boy in front of him. All he thought now was how tiring it was being here. A long pause ensued as the other kids pointed and snickered.

He sighed and said,

"Teams?"

"Yeah. Teams. Us against you."

The boys behind him began to laugh. 

"Isn't that not fair?"

"Oh it's definitely fair all right. You look pretty strong to me so it makes sense."

"A-Alright. Go easy on me."

Saying that, he got off the swing and walked with them to the center of the ground, not caring for their pointed fingers and jeers.

The blonde boy sets the ball down on a white circle and places his foot on top of it. He looks up at the black-haired boy with a puzzled look and asks,

"My name's Casey. What's yours?"

"N-Name?"

"Yes your n-na-name, idiot."

"....Niz."

"Okay then, Niz. Let's play."

Once done talking, Niz brings up his right foot and kicks the ball to the side. This puzzles Casey as he stops for a moment. In that moment, Niz bolted, his tattered white shoes thudding against the ground as he ran with the ball and began kicking it to the goal.

Casey gave a shout and immediately, four of the kids rushed to block Niz. The one that reached him first brought out his hand to slam it into his face but Niz whipped his head to the side and continued onwards while the other kid stumbled on the floor.

Several metres away, the three kids had joined up shoulder to shoulder and were now advancing towards Niz. Niz gave them a glance with his listless eyes and turned his eyes towards the ball. Mustering all his strength, he kicked it upwards into the sky. All three of them looked upwards at the ball. In that moment, Niz got behind them and slid his foot between the middle kid's feet and pulled his leg back.

The sudden movement made the kid cry out as his hands reflexively grabbed the shoulders of the other two. All three of them went tumbling down like dominoes.

In the meantime, the ball fell down and bounced a bit before Niz took it between his feet and continued his onslaught. 

Strangely enough, there was a wide grin on Niz's face as he began panting loudly, eyes widened to the size of saucers. 

"You little shits! Stop him!"

Casey shouted loudly while tugging at his hair.

Two kids now jogged up to Niz. Twins. They seemed to mirror each other a little.

As Niz approached them, they nodded at each other in understanding. As they got closer, one of them slid down towards Niz's feet while the other hunched over him. 

By now, Niz was too close to dodge or move away from the kick. He took in a deep breath and pushed his leg a little further.

The foot of the kid who slid hit the ball and it went shooting backwards. The foot of Niz happened to find its landing on the kid's leg and immediately, there was a loud cry of pain as tears welled up in his eyes. Niz didn't stop.

He pushed down further and leaped up using his hands to push down the bent back of the other kid. He gave a small yelp as he fell face forwards into his brother's chest. Both groaned in pain.

Niz slowed down, turned around and jogged towards the ball. His foot began guiding the ball back past the fallen two kids and a light drizzle fell from the sky.

It quickly began to shower heavily, drenching all the kids in cold water but Niz did not stop. He simply continued till he was at the goal, with only one very scared looking kid between him and the goal.

Niz's gaze met the goalkeeper's and shivers ran down his spine and it wasn't because of the cold. 

To put it simply, Niz was now grinning ear to ear and his eyes showed a hint of frenzy in them. A small laugh escaped his throat. There was no way the goalkeeper would get in the way of him now.

Niz raised his leg back and kicked as hard as he could. The goalkeeper dodged out of the way, covering his head while uttering a weak cry of "Mummy!"

The ball flew straight into the net as Niz screamed out,

"GOOALL!!"

And he collapsed to the muddy ground, trying to catch his breath. He hadn't been this worked up in a pretty long while and it felt really good to get out and get some movement.

As he lay there, the rain pouring over him, he heard the crunch of rushed footsteps approach him. He lazily turned his head and was greeted with the sight of a reddened fuming Casey. Niz looked at him and said in a laughing tone,

"You were right Casey! It was a fair match!"

Clenching his teeth, Casey kicked Niz in the stomach, catching him completely off guard. Niz coughed softly as he curled his knees in. His vision went blurry.

"You little cockroach! Think you're so great, huh?"

Casey kicked Niz again as he attempted to stop him.

"You little shits! Come here and beat the shit out of this trash!"

Casey said while pointing at the now standing kids. They obediently came and began kicking him. 

One of the twins grabbed his arms and the other pulled at his feet. Niz did nothing but cough and groan as they repeatedly kicked him.

Casey bent down and grabbed Niz's collar and pulled him up. He pulled his other hand back and punched Niz's face. 

His ears began ringing and warm blood flowed from his nose, slightly heating up his face from the cold rain before washing away.

Finally, after a minute or two, they got tired and left a bloody and battered Niz in the rain. Pain coursed through his body as his face felt like it was burning. He brought up his hands and gingerly held his nose.

Thankfully, it wasn't broken.

Niz laid there for a couple moments just breathing in as the rain washed away the blood from his still smiling face. 

The only sound of the rain hitting the floor now was permeated with the sound of Niz laughing suddenly. He laughed loudly and without reserve. 

For a couple minutes, the only thing Niz did was laugh and smile at nothing in particular. Once he quietened down, he stood up slowly and immediately buckled to his knees, clutching his stomach. It hurt like hell.

Taking a couple more breaths, he stood up again and began taking painful steps, away from the ground and away from the swing.

Heading out through the metal gates, he headed home, a sense of dread filling his being.

…

~Creak~

The wooden door slowly swung open and a soaking wet Niz walked through the door and onto creaky floorboards. He glanced around the dark and bare hallway, looking for any sign of movement. 

Noticing nothing, he let out a breath and walked in, closing the door behind him. He shivered from the cold and headed inside.

Immediately, the door to his right swung open and a ragged red faced drunk glared at Niz. He drunkenly swung his arm and caught Niz's sopping wet hair.

"Where the fuck.. have you been, huh?"

"I- I was playing-"

A harsh slap fell on Niz's face. 

"You were playing? That's the reason I had to.. get up for a drink?"

Saying that, the disheveled man slapped him again and again while Niz cried out in pain. Niz grabbed his hand and pulled it off his hair and ran to his room.

Momentarily surprised, the drunk stood there. He took heavy steps after Niz saying,

"Come.. back hereee.. Littlee.. bitchhhh."

Halfway to him, his hands found an empty bottle on a side desk and he picked it up. Blurrily looking at Niz, he swung it at him.

Niz was already through his door and as he swung it close, the bottle flew in and hit the picture frame by his bedside.

Niz closed the door and a loud thump was heard moments later. His gaze traced to the damage. He quickly rushed to the fallen picture frame and picked it up.

A sharp piece of glass cut his finger and he winced in pain. Slightly shaking the glass shards from the picture frame, he picked it up and turned it around. 

The glass case was cracked and the picture was falling out a bit. Gingerly tucking it back in, he heard the door burst open as his drunk father stumbled in.

"Hoh, you shit.. closing the door on me.."

He stumbled towards Niz and grabbed him by the collar and pulled hand back to punch him. His eyes met Niz's and he stopped and just looked on.

Niz blankly stared on with his soulless eyes. Then it happened.

The drunk's hand came down hard on Niz and he fell to the floor.

Pain coursed through his jaw and to his skull. To top it off, his drunk dad wasn't even shutting up now. He had a headache from the numerous beatings he had gotten today but Niz didn't care. He was tired of it everything, the daily torturous routine, the utter lack of humanity, everything. All he wanted now was for it all to be over... anytime soon would be nice...

…

The sky was overcast with grey clouds and a slight wind blew through the ground. Niz was seated in the same swing he was yesterday, a large bruise visible on his face. From behind him, Casey and his cronies came up and slapped the back of his head, one by one. Once they were all in front of him, Casey said,

"Sup loser, went home crying to your mommy after getting your ass beat yesterday?"

Casey snickered. His cronies gathered around him and chortled at his remark.

Niz didn't move from his place on the swing, staring at the sky with his bruised face. His arms were covered in ugly purple bruises but Niz didn't seem to care about them. 

"Oh that's right! You don't have a mum!"

Casey laughed loudly as did his cronies. 

Niz glared at Casey with death in his eyes. His breathing became ragged as his grip tightened on the swing chains. Casey stopped his laughing episode short when he saw the look being sent his way. 

If it wasn't from a kid a foot shorter than him, Casey would probably have had goosebumps but instead, he felt very uneasy and unnerved.

He looked back and approached Niz with the intention to teach him another lesson. He got within a foot of his space and brought out his hand to grab his collar.

Niz calmly got off the swing and held Casey's hand and without warning, bit down on it.

Casey let out an ugly scream and tried to pull his hand back but Niz only dug his teeth deeper.

Only when Niz could taste warm blood on his tongue did he let go of his hand and watched as Casey fell down. He spat the blood out and immediately jumped on Casey's chest with both feet.

All of the other kids fearfully took two steps back. Casey let out a weak groan. Niz grabbed Casey's collar with both hands and quickly rushed his mouth towards his cheek.

Once again, he opened his mouth wide and bit down hard. Casey screamed and thrashed his hands wildly on Niz's body to little avail. Niz was utterly determined to hurt Casey and that's what he was gonna do.

Although he couldn't puncture the flesh, he snapped his head back, leaving ugly teeth marks and tearing his skin. Bright red blood flowed freely down Casey's face.

Tears were now streaming down Casey's face. For the first time since he had decided to pick on Niz did he felt afraid of him. 

Niz glanced up from his makeshift seat on Casey's chest and looked at the colour-drained faces of the cronies with a bloody smile and said,

"Who's next?"

Starting with the twins, They all ran away, screaming loudly and tumbling over each other. 

Meanwhile, Niz's attention was brought back to Casey by his whimpering. He looked at him with the same bloody smile and brought his lips next to his ear and whispered,

"I'm not done yet!"

With that, he launched fist after fist into Casey's face and chest. They resounded out with a thud each time and Casey began crying for him to stop.

As sweat begin to drip down Niz's forehead, he stopped and stood up to catch his breath. He took in the sight of the utterly battered Casey on the floor and unzipped his pants.

"Wha- What are you doing?"

Niz began pissing on Casey. Casey sputtered as the yellow stream hit his face. He laid there, utterly weak and unable to move. Soon, Niz was finished and he stepped off. Casey sat up and scampered away while crying and wiping his face in an ugly manner. Some distance away, he keeled over and began puking vehemently. Slowly, he got back up and weakly took off, not daring to turn back.

Watching the scene, Niz felt an immense feeling of joy balloon up in him and his smile grew wider, if possible.

He knew that Casey wouldn't trouble him now. Of course, who had the balls to admit they got pissed on by someone they had beaten up just a day before? Definitely not Casey.

He wiped the blood from his face and sat back down on the swing, revelling in the slight wind and the clearing sky, giving way to a lovely blue colour.

…

A man in a dark grey two-piece suit and strikingly black shoes is rushing down the street. His left hand holds a sleek black phone to his ear as he frustratedly speaks into it, one hand brushing back his black hair,

"What I mean when I say to lay off the entire marketing department, I mean that you get your ass up from your chair, walk in to their department and tell them that they are incompetent pieces of shit that will amount to nothing in life and fuck off outta my department."

The feminine voice on the other end came through with slight disturbance,

"But the entire department?"

The man calmly confirmed,

"The entire. Fucking. Department."

"Who'll-"

Cutting her off, he said,

"Hey! That's not your job to worry about, okay? I'll handle it. You do what I just told you or I'll fucking do it to you."

"....Got it… Niz.."

*Click*

"Idiot is the GM and can't even do one thing right..."

"Heelp--"

"Hm?"

Peering into an alley, Niz's eyes were greeted with the sight of a dirty homeless man, shoving his hand over the mouth of someone slightly taller than half his size. A kid, probably.

Niz is about to walk away when he notices the glint of a knife in the dark alley. The homeless criminal holds it up to the terrified kid's face and says something. 

His face contorts in a hidden rage. Niz is too far away to make out anything but he notices the criminal's hand moving down towards… the kid's skirt. 

Silent tears are streaming down her face. She closes her eyes, stopping all resistance after resigning herself to her ugly tainted fate.

The man's hand touched the waist of the skirt as it moved around her waist. Her entire figure trembled with fear. 

Then, the man grabbed it and tries to pull it down.

He stops. Or rather, he is stopped.

The girl slightly opened her crying eyes and looked up. Immediately, she cried out in horror -although her cry was muffled- as she's greeted with the sight of a knife hilt stuck to the man's neck with another hand gripping it tightly. The homeless man's eyes glanced around in fear and he tried to utter something but then the hand twisted the blade and he began coughing out dark red blood. It fell on the girl's dirtied face and she trembled at it's feel.

The homeless man's hand fell down limply from her mouth and soon, his body slumped to the floor, knife still in his neck.

She breathed raggedly as she watched on the twitching limbs of her brutal assailant. 

Then, as if remembering something, she glanced back up and was met with an icy cold look from a pair of dark brown eyes.

Somehow, she felt more scared for her life than she did a minute before.

The figure brought his blood-speckled hand down into his pocket and slowly pulled something out. 

Instinctively, the girl closed her eyes and turned her head.

Nothing happened. She slowly opened her eyes and turned around. The figure held a white silk handkerchief to her face.

"Wipe the blood away."

He ordered her in an ice cold tone. 

Snapping out of her stupor, she took the hanky with shaking hands and wiped her face with it. Once she's done, the man steps forward and opens out his palm. Glancing between the face of the man and the open hand, she realised what she was supposed to do and dropped the blood stained hanky into his hand. He took it and began cleaning off the blood speckles from his hand.

He then looked at the still twitching body and the guttural noises emanating from it. He glanced around and saw an empty but wet black plastic bag. He walked over and picked it up before kneeling at the homeless man's side and looking him in his dying eyes.

In the darkness, as his vision grew darker, the bleeding eyes of the man made out a large smile as his killer wrapped the knife handle in the plastic bag and pulled it out sharply.

The homeless man gave out another croak before falling still, blood gushing from his neck.

Niz slowly picked the knife up in the bloodied bag and wrapped it on itself. Making sure there weren't any visible blood stains, he tucked the bag into his grey suit and turned around to look at the girl.

She was still trembling in fear, but didn't dare to make any noise in his presence. 

There was a long tear on her shirt's side and it was revealing her bare figure. Niz walked over to her and slowly took off his blazer and draped it over her shaking shoulders. 

She looked up at Niz and he spoke again, the icy tone having subsided,

"Come. Let's get you somewhere safe."

"..O- Okay."

She clutched the blazer and followed as Niz began to walk away. She gave one quick glance at the body of her assailant and then quickened her pace behind Niz. Stepping back into the sunlight, the girl blinked her green eyes a couple times. Her mind kept racing to mere moments ago, the sense of dread and impending doom stretched out over an entirety of forever.

Niz glanced at her once. He spoke now calmly,

"What's your name?"

The girl looked up, not expecting him to strike up a conversation with her. Goosebumps ran down her arms and spine at the sight of the man but she wasn't afraid anymore.

"Me? It-It's Medea."

Niz chuckled lightly.

"....Lovely name. Now, Medea. Did you know that man?"

Darkness fell upon her face as she looked down as they walked,

"No…"

"Well then, what were you in a dark alley for?"

Somehow, she looked even more ashamed than before.

"I-I… I was told to go there…"

"By who?"

A long silence as Medea silently refuses to answer Niz. Thinking she hadn't heard him, Niz called her by her name.

"Medea?"

She gave out a loud sigh and said rushedly,

"By my friends… they said they'd meet me there…"

"What for?"

"...To smoke."

Niz put out his hand in front of Medea, stopping her steps. In her daze, she hadn't noticed they were at a traffic light and had almost put her foot into oncoming traffic. 

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"Cigarettes?"

"No…"

"Did you want to?"

"...No."

"That's good."

Another long pause ensued as both continued their walk in silence. A thought struck Medea and she turned to Niz and asked,

"Won't you call the police?"

He dismissively replied,

"There isn't a need."

"There's a dead man in that alley."

"There's a dead 'criminal'. And I'm the one that killed him. So no police."

A red flag went up as Medea became defensive.

"...Where are you taking me?"

"Where do you want to go?"

Medea stuttered a bit before forming a coherent sentence,

"Anywhere… just not a place like that alley."

Looking forward at the approaching pedestrians, Niz replied,

"Somewhere safe, it is."

It would have been another lull in conversation if it wasn't for a sudden and loud rumbling being heard by the two.

Niz glanced down at Medea and saw her go beet red. She didn't dare meet his eyes. He asked,

"You hungry?"

"Y-Yeah."

"I know a coffee shop nearby. Lunch is on me."